Wednesday, 9 August 2017

"Even gods must die!"

Regular readers of my ramblings will know that a few weeks ago, a combination of good fortune, wacky scenarios and a small field of opponents allowed me to come away from a Batman event victorious, and my chief prize was a starter set for the new LexCorp faction for the Batman Miniatures game. Had I not won them, this is not a set I would have bought. However, it was a choice between Lex Luthor and Professor Pyg, a character I REALLY hate, so the choice was obvious.

"Why might I not buy Lex?" I hear you ask. Well, those that know me, might be aware that I'm a bit fussy about what qualifies as 'proper Batman,' and this often leads to me disregarding the more outlandish reinterpretations of characters from the console games (Firefly, I'm looking at you), and frankly all of the New 52 versions of characters. Although Lex Luthor doesn't fit either of these categories, he is very much a Superman character, and Superman stays out of Gotham (mainly for fear of getting his ass kicked...again), so Lex was in now way a priority.

Nevertheless, with my recent push on breaking out of a painting rut, I decided to have a crack at LexCorp.

You'll notice that the set features Lex Luthor and three, rather futuristic looking, LexCorp troopers. These are another reason I wasn't overly keen on this set, as they're a reminder of the overly 'sci-fi' feel of most of the DC universe outside of Gotham City. As such, I have already taken to referring to them as the Lex Marines. Having said that, I quite enjoyed painting all three, and this has made me keen to build up a full LexCorp crew.

Lex Luthor himself, is a very classy looking model. A simple but menacing pose that oozes character, clutching a lump of kryptonite, which amusingly has no effect in regular games as there are no Kryptonians in the Batman Miniatures Game, although there is a special 'World's Finest' scenario that allows Lex and the Joker to be pitted against Batman and Superman.

Lex was ridiculously simple to paint, with the trickiest bit being deciding how bright to make the kryptonite.

In game he might be fairly tricky to use, as his abilities are mainly used in the set up to the game, and he is worth extra VP's to the opponent, making him a fairly soft and valuable target. An energy field might not be enough to keep him safe if I'm careless with placement.However, he should be able to upset enemy plans well, and brings additional funding that will provide his troopers with lots of extra equipment.

The LexCorp troopers were a bit trickier, as I experimented with washes and highlighting to get a green that I was happy with. However, this was more to do with decision making than actually difficulty, and so I enjoyed doing them.

LexCorp Trooper 1 is a close combat master, giving him re-rolls in combat, which is unusual in a henchman. Combined with his reinforced gloves and Strength of 4+, this means that he is a fairly reliable source of damage, and should be good for threatening the higher defence models in the opposing crew.

Trooper 2 is armed with an energy blade which wounds on a 3+ and does that magic blood/stun damage that converts to to two blood when delivering coup de grace. This makes him ideal for finishing off downed opponents, including those who have been knocked out by the reliable Trooper 1. He also comes with the Follow Me trait which is useful for getting the crew moving quickly.

Trooper 3 has the only ranged weapon in the set, and it's only short range. This means that he will have to get across the board quickly to use it. Fortunately, the LexCorp equipment list features a jet-pack, and the fact that his hand cannon is a beam weapon that largely ignores cover, delivers three blood damage and pushes opponents, potentially makes him really good for chasing down enemy snipers.

All of the LexCorp troopers come with medium armour, which will provide them with excellent protection from enemy attacks, especially in close combat. However, the fact that they are only Endurance 4 means that weight of ranged fire can bring them down fairly easily due to the 'just a scratch' rule. This probably means that this crew will need to be used fairly aggressively.

In terms of building the crew, I have already painted the comic version of Talia Al Ghul, who is affiliated with LexCorp, and brings a bit more speed and range without negatively affecting the budget for equipment. To bring this crew up to 350 reputation, I simply need to add the Heavy Trooper, who comes armed with a...Laser Cannon!

What did I say about sci-fi?

As a final bonus, this crew is part of the Multiverse range, which meant that it not only came with the game cards for BMG, but also with cards for the DC Universe Game. This is essentially the same system as for the, now defunct, Marvel Universe Game, and so they may also see action against Mike's Dark Avengers, Wes' Guardians of the Galaxy, or even Pete's Justice League (if he ever gets the urge to paint them).

All in all, for something I didn't really want, these have been surprisingly satisfying.